Tityus bahoruco Teruel et Armas, 2006

Teruel, Rolando, 2017, Some taxonomic corrections to the genus Tityus C. L. Koch, 1836 (Scorpiones: Buthidae) in Hispaniola, Greater Antilles, Euscorpius 242, pp. 1-9 : 2-3

Tityus bahoruco Teruel et Armas, 2006

Figures 2 , 6

Type Data. DOMINICAN REPUBLIC, Sierra de Bahoruco [Bahoruco Range], Pedernales Province, Pedernales Municipality, Mencía , Río Mulito [= El Mulito, Las Agüitas], 500 m a.s.l., under tree bark, 22/August/1987, A. Abud, L. F. de Armas, ♂ holotype ( IES, examined). Sierra de Bahoruco [Bahoruco Range], Pedernales Province, Pedernales Municipality, Las Abejas, 1,290 m a.s.l., inside rotten log, 22/July/1999, M. A. Ivie, ♀ paratype ( MSU, examined) .

Remarks. The direct comparison of the types of T. bahoruco to abundant additional specimens of T. crassimanus (the only other member of the "crassimanus" species-group known to occur in this mountain range), revealed that both taxa are conspecific. Both types of the former are just the smallest adults of the latter and the comparison made in the original description was misleading: a reexamination of the two supposedly adult males of T. crassimanus from Fondo Paradí used for comparison by Teruel & Armas (2006), revealed that both are actually very large females. Thus, the following synonymy is herein established: Isometrus crassimanus Thorell, 1876 [currently Tityus crassimanus (Thorell, 1876) ] = Tityus bahoruco Teruel et Armas, 2006 , new synonym.

The present study (which included successful captive breeding for several consecutive generations) allowed to define that T. crassimanus is morphologically highly variable, that sexual maturity is attained at very different instars (from nymphs III–VI), and that morphological variation is directly correlated to size, to the point that adults belonging to different size-class can be easily mistaken as distinct species. The expression of sexual dimorphism follows the same rule as in other studied species of the genus, i.e., larger adults are the most strongly dimorphic and smaller ones are the least ( Fig. 2 ).

Figures

Figure 2: Size-related morphological variability of adult Tityus crassimanus, exemplified by males: a) small specimen from road Cabo Rojo-El Aceitillar, Pedernales Province (typical T. bahoruco n. syn.); b) standard specimen from road Cabo Rojo-El Aceitillar, Pedernales Province (intermediate); c) large specimen from road Cabo Rojo-El Aceitillar, Pedernales Province (intermediate); d) very large specimen from Río Mulito, Pedernales Province (typical T. crassimanus). Scale bar in millimeters.

Figure 6: Map of Hispaniola, showing the updated geographical distribution of all valid extant members of the "crassimanus" species-group: Tityus crassimanus (circles), Tityus ottenwalderi (squares) and Tityus sp. (triangles). New records depicted in white symbols, previous records in black.